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Home Editorials of Interest Jerome F. Keating's writings Taiwan: Curious Questions, Why the Secrecy on Ma's Daughter's Marriage

Taiwan: Curious Questions, Why the Secrecy on Ma's Daughter's Marriage

Taiwan has many current pressing problems. How to get the economy rolling? What to do with China's constant threat to its democracy? What should it do about nuclear power? What about the Diaoyutai/Senkaku dispute? The list can go on and on, but mixed in all these is where is the heart of its president and where will he retire after his final three years are up, especially since his ratings continue at an all time low.

The questions of where he might retire etc. bring us back to why the secrecy of his daughter's marriage which broke last month?

Certainly, the first family deserves a certain amount of privacy, but privacy is not hiding something. Ma's daughter was married it appears a year ago to a Harvard schoolmate Allen Tsai, but Taiwan did not know about it till the following year and that only because a second ceremony/dinner was held in the Grand Hotel in Taiwan for select locals. It was not announced, but it is a lot harder for the first family to keep a secret in Taiwan, than it is in the USA.

No one has anything against private weddings and a wish to be free from Paparazzi, but when the daughter of a president of a country gets married and the country finds out a year later, the nagging question comes up, why so hush-hush?? It is almost as if the president does not want more than the marriage of his daughter known. Is he ashamed or embarrassed that other questions about the fact that he is president of Taiwan will come up?

This is more like hiding the wedding; and it is in someways a discredit to Taiwan's media that it took a year to find out--and that only because a second wedding was held in Taiwan.

So speculation arises, where would Ma retire to? His daughter is now living in Hong Kong, and that is where Ma was supposedly born. Would the president of a country choose to retire there and not in Taiwan? That does not say much for loyalty to one's country.

Source: Jerome F. Keating's writings



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Newsflash

The odds of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) being re-elected in 2012 yesterday fell below 50 percent for the first time since May, according to a university prediction market.

Prediction markets are speculative exchanges, with the value of an asset meant to reflect the likelihood of a future event.

On a scale from NT$0 to NT$100, the probability of Ma winning a re-election bid was, according to bidders, NT$48.40, the Center for Prediction Market at National Chengchi University said.

The center has market predictions on topics including politics, the economy, international affairs, sports and entertainment. Members can tender virtual bids on the events, with the bidding price meant to reflect probability.

The re-election market had attracted 860,000 trading entries as of yesterday. It was launched in April.

The center said the figure slipped 2.3 percentage points yesterday from a day earlier, when Ma conceded that his party did not fare as well as hoped in the “three-in-one” elections.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won 12 of Saturday’s 17 mayor and commissioner elections, but its total percentage of votes fell 2 percentage points from 2005 to 47.88 percent of votes nationwide.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won just four of the races, but received 45.32 percent of the ballots, or a 7.2 percentage-point increase from 2005.

Since the center opened the trading on Ma’s re-election chances on April 11, prices have largely hovered around NT$60, but jumped to NT$70 in mid-June. The figure then fell to NT$51.80 in August after Typhoon Morakot lashed Taiwan, killing hundreds.

After then-premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) resigned in September, the price returned to NT$63.2 and remained at around NT$60 for the following two months, the center said.

Since Ma took over as KMT chairman, the center said the number had steadily declined from NT$58 on Nov. 18 to NT$50.80 on Dec. 5. After Saturday’s elections, the figure fell below NT$50.

The center said the outcome yesterday would likely affect next year’s elections for the five special municipalities, as well as the next presidential election.

It also said the probability of Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) winning re-election was 72 percent, while the chances of Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) winning again were 20 percent.

Source: Taipei Times 2009/12/07